1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to orthopedic braces for stabilizing and/or protecting and preventing injury to an area of interest, such as an injured ankle, on a human subject.
2. Prior Art
Various brace and ankle brace configurations are known in the prior art for the treatment of injuries, such as lateral ankle sprains, which are the most common form of ankle injury experienced by athletes and others. Such device are typified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,202,249; 7,753,865 and 7,267,656, for example.
New research is indicating that traditional treatments for injuries, such as ankle injuries, involving rest/idleness of the joint as well as thermal (ice) therapy may not be as effective as mobilization and movement of the joint and pumping action of the associated muscles immediately following injury. See for example, http://guardianlv.com/2014/04/ice-age-melting-rice-may-no-longer-be-the-treatment-of-choice-for-injuries. As a result, physiotherapists are more frequently employing the use manipulative therapy techniques to treat dysfunction and pain resulting from ankle sprains and other injuries. A form of therapy known as “Mulligan's Mobilization with Movement” treatment (MWM) has been known for the treatment of acute ankle pain following a plantar flexion/inversion injury. See “A study of the effects of Mulligan's mobilization with movement treatment of lateral ankle pain using a case study design,” Manual Therapy (1998), 3(2), 78-74, Harcourt Brace & Co., Ltd. See also, Mulligan, Brian R., “Manual Therapy” 3rd Edition, Planeview Service, Ltd. Wellington, New Zealand, 1995. The technique is a manual technique that involves a physiotherapist sustaining a posterior glide to the distal fibula while the patient actively inverts the ankle several times. In physiotherapy, a “glide” involves the application of manual pressure by the therapist to a muscle, muscle group or human body area of interest, combined with sliding movement of the therapist's hands or fingers along path that coincides with area to be treated. In the case of treatment for ankle sprains, the MWM technique may involve the application of a sustained anterior posterior cranial glide of the lateral malleolus on the tibia. With the glide maintained, the patient then performs active movement of the injured joint with therapist providing overpressure at an end range of motion. Following the MWM, the glide is typically maintained with a specific tape application applied in the direction of the MWM to help maintain the corrected position of the fibula.
Challenges in the relevant art include providing brace devices that take advantage of these relatively new injury treatment techniques and principles, while providing brace structures that provide sufficient support to the area of interest and that still permit flexibility and a range of motion, such that an athlete, for example, could re-engage in activities promptly following an injury.
Yet another challenge in the art is to provide brace configurations that are easy to deploy (install) and remove, and which do not require the attention of a person besides the user for adjustment and or installation/removal.
Yet another challenge is to provide orthopedic braces that may provide therapeutic effects, such as MWM or like effects, to the area of interest while being worn by a human subject.
There is thus a need in the art for brace devices and associated methods that address these challenges. The subject matter of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems of the prior art set forth above, and others.